Pic 1, You can see where the patch begins, two parallel lines. The rest of it, barring one pair (last pic) is a continuous sweep, the absence of parallel lines suggesting most of the loss of traction being the outside tyres only, culminating in a total loss of control going off the road, which explains the starting point of the next one in,

Pic 2, The initial point is on a grating crossing a concrete driveway. It is fairly clear which wins in a battle between rubber and steel. That's about an inch of caramelized rubber in every hole. Beyond you can see a dangling strip of rubber, these were hanging down like drapes under the grating.

Pic 3, Presumably this level of traction launched them so hard they opted not to spin around, but to go for the long patch. Around 70m.

Pic 1. Where I've been playing for a few days. Hekerua Bay, on the right, just around the coast from Oneroa. Not accessible by road, we take a cliff track from the beach on the left, Sandy Bay. Good exercise, particularly laden with baggage. Between the two, Skeleton Bay, accessible only by walking around the rocks. This body of water you see is where I learned to swim, snorkel, row, kayak, dive, fish, etc. My family have been coming here since the 70s.

Pic 2. Speaking of diving, directly below where I took the first shot, a piece of local knowledge, a perfect natural diving platform for the brave. This shot taken from the bach, about 500m away. One boy leaps from the highest point, his mates are climbing up the ramp for more. They climbed around the rocks to get there.

Pic 3. The launch point taken from a dingy directly below it. Near high tide. At low tide, add 2 meters, and the fact you can see straight to the bottom, and the rocks are covered in oysters, for knee knocking goodness when standing at the top.

Pic 2. Speaking of diving, directly below where I took the first shot, a piece of local knowledge, a perfect natural diving platform for the brave. This shot taken from the bach, about 500m away. One boy leaps from the highest point, his mates are climbing up the ramp for more. They climbed around the rocks to get there.

Christ. It looks like the distance that needs to be cleared to avoid landing on rocks is quite considerable.

Yes, Pic 2 is deceptive. There's a deep sheltered pool, the rocks you are seeing are not beneath the platform, they are about 20 meters away, toward the camera. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's safe, but if you jump out at all, you'll clear the rocks. Kids have been jumping off it for as long as I can remember. Pic 3 is clearer, I was drifting in the pool as I took it.

There's a lower ledge also, if the very top is too scary. From the top it's 10-12m to the water. From the lower, it's more like 7-9m. In this shot, the boy in the green togs is about to jump from that.

Took the scenic route home from marking exams this afternoon. I must’ve passed this little temple a thousand times, but it grabbed my eye again today for whatever reason. Behind me was a motorway interchange, behind it you can see, and there was me and the temple in a tiny little would-be-green-if-it-were-summer space in between.

And hard to believe, even after all these years in Beijing, but where that fence is is where I was getting my car washed last February, and behind that was an empty expanse of dirt.